Great Skin! Fall Skincare Tips for a Healthy Glow

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When you wash your hair, water soaks into the delicate hair shafts, making them swell -- and that can cause the surface cuticle to lift up like loose roof tiles, giving your hair a coarse, dull look, says nutrition researcher Mary Enig, Ph.D., author of Know Your Fats. Rx: Coconut Oil Once each week, massage two tablespoons of warm coconut oil into slightly damp hair, cover with a shower cap, then shampoo out 30 minutes later. Coconut oil is nature’s number one source of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA’s) -- a unique group of fats that leave a microscopically-thin protective coating on the surface of hair strands, stopping water from crowding in and causing harm, according to studies at India’s Mumbai University. Another coconut oil perk: Its healthy fats kick-start healing of damaged cuticles, making hair softer, silkier and more break-resistant within two weeks, adds Enig.

Alopecia areata is a type of hair loss that flares when the immune system gets confused and starts attacking hair follicles. The cause of the condition is still a mystery -- but the result is tough-to-cover bald spots that can be even tougher to cure. Rx: Manganese If you’ve been diagnosed with this frustrating condition, consider trying a manganese supplement. European studies suggest that almost 100 percent of people with alopecia are deficient in this mineral -- and taking supplements helped some of their bald spots fill in within just four months! The study-proven dose: 10 milligrams daily. Reputable brands include Natrol, Bluebonnet and Twinlab.

So you didn’t win the thick-hair lottery. All is not lost! Rx: Fish Fish is rich in omega-3 fats, healing, anti-inflammatory fatty acids that nourish follicles, helping you produce strong, healthy hair that has body and luster, even if it’s a bit fine, says Barry Sears, Ph.D., author of "The Anti-Inflammation Zone." For best results, skip the fish oil supplement and opt for the real deal (at least 16 ounces weekly). According to a Norwegian research team, women who eat fish have 80 percent more omega-3 fats in their bloodstream than women who simply took the supplement.

If you have a receding hairline or a thinning patch on the top of your head, welcome to the world of male pattern baldness. It’s a genetic glitch that makes hair follicles super-sensitive to testosterone, hence being a predominately male misfortune.

Rx: Essential Oils

Try whipping up this essential oil blend: Mix four teaspoons of grapeseed oil, half a teaspoon of jojoba oil, two drops each of thyme and cedarwood oils and three drops each of lavender and rosemary oils (you’ll find everything you need at your local health food store), then cover your head with a towel for 10 minutes before showering. In a study published in the journal Archives of Dermatology, when 44 percent women spent two minutes nightly massaging a few drops of this aromatic blend into their thinning patches and gave the oils time to absorb, their hair growth was back to normal within seven months. The secret: These medicinal oils strengthen and repair hair follicles, helping them produce healthy hair strands, despite testosterone fluxes, say the study authors.

According to Cleveland Clinic studies, the first sign of an iron shortfall isn’t fatigue -- it’s gradual, all-over hair thinning. Simply correcting an iron deficit can quickly reverse this beauty disaster, the study authors say. Rx: Iron-Fortified Cereals According to USDA researchers, fortified cereals are great sources of iron. Their top picks: Product 19, All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes, Total Raisin Bran and Whole Grain Total, all of them packed with at least 20 milligrams of iron in one heaping cup. For best results, pair your cereal with acidic fruit, like an orange, half a grapefruit or half a cup of berries According to UCLA researchers, fruit acids latch onto iron and help shuttle it through the digestive tract lining, doubling your ability to absorb this key mineral.

It’s a thrill to step on the scales and realize your diet is actually working, but watching your hair drop out as can put a real damper on your enthusiasm. Here’s the problem: Your hair is 91 percent protein; in fact, every single hair cell is jam-packed with the stuff. So if your diet is low in this essential building block, your hair strands will become thinner, more fragile and eventually fall right out, say University of Toronto researchers.

Rx: Protein

Whatever eating plan you choose, make sure you serve up four ounces of protein-rich beef, pork, chicken or turkey every day. You could see improvements in as little as six weeks.

If you’ve ever watched helplessly as your hair flowed steadily down the drain, and then struggled with that fuzzy look as tiny new hairs sprouted all over your scalp, the trouble could be stress overload. “Normally, 90 percent of your hair is in the growth phase and only 10 percent is resting or actually shedding,” says Jerome Shupak, M.D., professor of dermatology at the NYU Langone Medical Center. “But a surge in stress hormones can push a lot more hairs into the shedding phase, making you shed up to 300 of them daily instead of the usual 80.” Rx: Yoga Try 15 minutes of yoga twice daily. According to University of Pennsylvania researchers, yoga’s poses and rhythmic breathing help 60 percent of women dampen their production of hair-wrecking stress hormones for 12 hours straight. Try online classes at sites like myyogaonline.com or yogadownload.com.

If you’re losing the hair on both your scalp and your eyebrows, that’s a red flag that your thyroid is struggling, say experts at Washington’s Emory University. “People think they’ll be exhausted, gain weight or feel chilly if their thyroid isn’t up to snuff,” says Gary S. Hitzig, M.D., a hair transplant surgeon in Long Island, New York. “Yet one of the earliest signs of thyroid trouble is actually thinning head and eyebrow hair!” Rx: A Doctor! Get a sluggish thyroid treated and your locks could start thickening in as little as nine weeks, say researchers at the NYU School of Medicine.

People often try to prevent hair breakage by washing less often, but that can make your hair more brittle, says Dr. Hitzig. Your body produces a steady trickle of testosterone, and when this powerful hormone reaches your scalp, it breaks down to form a waste product called 5DHT. “If 5DHT starts building up on your scalp, it actually sabotages cell division inside follicles, making your hair grow out weak and fragile,” says Hitzig. Rx: A Good Scrub “Gently washing 5DHT off of your scalp every 24 hours can keep your levels of this troublemaker safely low, helping your hair grow stronger and more break-resistant within two months.”

If your hair is patchy and you’re struggling with dizziness or other weird symptoms, try laying off the vitamin A. There’s no question that this nutrient is essential for good health -- for starters, it strengthens your immune system and protects your vision -- but getting more than 20,000 international units (IU) daily can trigger patchy hair loss, plus symptoms like dizziness, blurred vision, ear ringing, nausea, diarrhea, skin rashes and joint pain, say researchers at New York’s Nassau County Medical Center Rx: Check the labels The ideal dose is 10,000 IU daily, max. Double-check your vitamin ingredients just to be sure, suggest UCLA researchers. Turns out many multivitamins and other combination formulas have 10,000 IUs per pill, so your daily dose can really rack up fast.

Sulfur is crucial in the development of strong nails and a deficiency can be what’s keeping you from that manicure. Rx: MSM Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an odorless, tasteless form of sulfur found naturally in many fruits, veggies and meats, is good for your nails. It’s such an important building block of healthy nail tissue that taking 2,000 to 2,500 milligrams daily can help women grow strong, break-resistant nails within two months. MSM is quickly destroyed when food is heated or processed, so pumping up your levels with a supplement is a smart bet if you’re struggling with not-so-sturdy nails right now. Look for MSM in health food stores and nutrition outlets. Bonus: According to studies at Oregon Health Sciences, MSM is also a powerful anti-inflammatory that can cut joint pain, muscle pain and headache flare-ups by 82 percent in as few as six weeks.

If your nails are covered with tiny white specks, you probably need more zinc. Although doctors aren’t sure yet why, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that as zinc levels drop, the number of these tiny nail “bruises” skyrockets. Rx: Red meat, fish and chicken Take 25 milligrams of zinc daily or add three ounces of zinc-rich red meat, fish, poultry or eggs to each meal to boost your tissue stores of this mineral by 35 percent – you'll grow new, speckle-free nails in just six months, say USDA researchers. Want spot-free nails even quicker? Zinc is best taken at bedtime so take a supplement before you snooze. High doses of stomach acid are needed for proper mineral absorption, and according to researchers at Houston’s University of Texas, stomach acid production doubles after 10 p.m.

Few things are more frustrating than giving your nails lots of TLC, only to have them peel like blistered skin, yet up to one in four women regularly battle this annoying nail blight. Rx: Horsetail tea This tea is loaded with silica, a building block of nail tissue that helps nails grow in stronger, locking in moisture so nails are less likely to peel and flake. According to University of Cincinnati researchers, just pumping up your silica intake can help you grow noticeably stronger, sturdier nails in as little as three months -- just two cups of horsetail tea daily can do the trick. Popular brands include Alvita and Celebration Herbals. If you find this brew a little bitter, just sweeten with a pinch of sugar or honey. Bonus: According to the FDA, horsetail tea is a proven diuretic, so it’s a great option if you often battle bloating or fluid retention.